SimpliSafe Home Security App

I’m an Engineer, so I was a little concerned that it might be overly simplified in order to keep setup straight forward, when In fact, it’s just the opposite. The basic configuration allows for a very simple setup that will satisfy 95% of the users. For those that want to fiddle with it, you have the option to modify operational parameters on a sensor by sensor basis. For example, The non monitored wired alarm I also have had problems in my garage, forcing me to purchase a sophisticated PIR/radar detector. I installed the SimpliSafe motion detector in that location and set it up to only send alerts to me instead of alarming the system. That allows me to gain confidence with the location before taking it live. That’s just one example of the flexibility you’re afforded. I’m also impressed with the monitoring speed. I moved one of my motion detectors, and wanted to verify it’s performance so I put the system in test mode. My phone rang almost instantly, couldn’t have been more than 2 seconds, and to my surprise it was the monitoring company informing me that they received a test signal. They stayed on the line explaining test mode options, and thanked me. Customer support has always been easy to reach, and extremely helpful as I delved into some of the features that very few people will ever get into.

Read my success story below, but why only 4 stars? After each power outage both cameras would be inactive. My house watcher had to go and cycle power to get them to work again. This needs to be fixed. I had one camera viewing the central area inside, and another set on a window sill watching the three feet of snow in the yard! Last year we bought a winter home in the desert. I was very concerned about leaving our northern home totally unprotected. I had a company install a system in another home seven years ago, and it worked perfectly, but it was all hard-wired and expensive. Searched this time for wireless systems, and found SimpliSafe. Having experience with the other system, I realized SimpliSafe checked all the important boxes like dual WiFi/cellular, safe from physical destruction, etc. Look at all those features carefully. And the sensors! Just what I needed to leave a house in very cold winter conditions. Water leak sensors for broken pipes. Temperature sensor to confirm the heating was working. Glass break sensors. Perfect! I installed it and had great peace of mind from 800 miles away for the seven months we were gone. Only one alarm, when a double-hung window popped open on it's own. They called me, the house was checked. Easily installed and set up. What a great system. We are now moving to the desert. I can easily remove the system and take it with us!

I installed the system last week. It was very easy to install if you follow the instructions. I did call customer support for a couple of questions to help finish the installation and make sure I had it correct. I was VERY impress with the willingness and knowledge she had. What great customer service! I have had no issues with the APP so far. We use the IPhone X and it works fine. I see in other post people have issues with the APP. We have door and window sensors, 2 motion detectors, 3 smoke alarms, the Base, two keypads (up and down), and two panic alarms. All working good and all verified by customer service. We are using the deluxe call back service for $25/ month and we entered the SimpliSafe phone number into each phone so we can tell it is SimpliSafe that is calling, Because it is an 800#. The only negative feedback I can give is the Doorbell alarm has such a delay with video and voice communication that it is not very useful in real time. If I say “who is at the door” it takes 10-20 seconds to see or here on your phone. My WiFi is 100 mps. It is not the WiFi at issue. So this needs improvement and is why I give 4 Stars and not 5 stars. I say to SimpliSafe, if you do fix this one issue, I will give you 5 Stars. I will report back later if I have any issue, but as of today All is good with the entire system. (Except the doorbell communication delay)

System works very well. Everything it does, it does it well, reliably and easy. There is a very short delay in arming and disarming the system from the phone, never have issues changing device settings and works fast. One big improvement for me would be an improved camera viewing system. The timeline is nice, but it would be nice to be able to search for specific events and days. It would also be good to be able to view the camera footage from multiple events at the same time, so if I am skimming through looking for something in particular, but wasn’t necessarily an alarm trigger, I can go through and find it. I would also like to have a “Night” mode for arming. Currently, I actually use my “Home” mode when I am away, because we have a big dog and I have certain motion sensors turn off when she is home alone. It just so happens that the same sensors are active when we sleep as when we are gone and our dog is with us. It does get a bit confusing though arming “home” when nobody is there. So adding more modes, or even customized modes, would be a useful ability. Overall, 4 stars, but improve the camera viewing and add in a Night mode and I’d be happy with that as is, and 5 stars be coming from me! :)

I replaced a 20 yr old wired system with SimpliSafe. The old one was facing replacement, and I preferred the ability to personally customize the system instead of having to have a tech out to replace a sensor, etc. I do see a few areas for improvement that would probably be simple to implement and would greatly improve the user experience. I have the base station in a secure server closet. Signal is fine, but you can’t hear the voice prompts. The ability to wire in an external speaker would be nice. Just add a port. Even better would be the option of allowing the voice prompts to be heard through the keypads or an external siren. I have 2 additional sirens - 1 inside, 1 outside. If I could allow the internal to broadcast the base station voice prompts, it would be perfect. Same would apply to the keypads. Also, being able to create custom zones would be a welcome addition. In my old system, I could bypass sensors from the keypad. If I wanted to go into the garage, just bypass the door. Once you turned the system off and back on, the sensor was automatically back in the original state. Although you can go into the app and do in with SimpliSafe, it’s more complicated. And you run the risk of forgetting to “un-bypass” a sensor after you’re done, effectively removing the security from the door.